Wendy Richard: 'I Discovered the Small Lump Whilst in the
Shower'

Wendy Richard has been through hell these past weeks. This is
because the actress we know from series like EastEnders and
Are You Being Served? discovered a lump in her breast. In hospital
she had to have an operation right away.

"Iwas standing in the shower two weeks ago and
suddenly I felt a lump in my left breast", said Wendy Richard, who we
know as Pauline Fowler in the series EastEnders and as Mrs.
[sic] Brahms in the series Are You Being Served? (which is
shown daily on TV10 Gold). "I was terrified and my stomach has never
hurt as much as in that moment. I regularly check my breasts while being
in the shower. And I felt something. I got out of the shower and stood
in front of the mirror. And yes, at the upperside of my left breast was
a lump. It must have grown fast, because the day before I hadn't felt it
yet."

Wendy was immediately being referred for an operation by her family
doctor. The 49-year old actress is certain the danger is out of the way.
Sitting up in the hospital bed she exclaims with a smile:
"I have won!
The past ten days have been the worst of my whole life. I've never been
this scared. But because I reacted quickly, I have caught this in time.
The tumor has been taken out. My doctor has assured me that I'm 100%
healthy. And I feel fantastic, knowing that it is over. Just like
Pauline Fowler, the part I play in
EastEnders, I'm a fighter. After the weekend, I will go to the
set as usual. But they are going to have some patience with me, because
I can only work mornings for the time being. That's because I will get
radiotherapy in the afternoons. And that could last a few months."

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day (14th of February) Wendy had the appointment for a
mammogram. "That wasn't at all. It wasn't embarrassing and it didn't
hurt. It was over before I knew it. But by just looking at the face of
the young assistant that was operating the machine, I could see that we
were dealing with something serious here. Immediately after they made a
scan. And after that they took away some tissue from the lump with a
hollow needle. And at the end of the afternoon I got to hear that it was
indeed a malignant tumor.

"At that moment I thought: Nice, it's Valentine's Day today. And my only
present is the message that I have cancer..." The next day Wendy had an
appointment with another doctor. After an investigation he confirmed the
diagnosis. The next morning she had to come back to the hospital for
more tests - heart, lungs, bone marrow and liver.

"My liver was alright. So I didn't have a drinking problem," she says
with a meaningful twinkle in her eyes. "But of course they wanted to
know whether it had spread already." Wendy had surgery in the Princess
Grace Hospital in London. "I said to Gerry Gilmore, the man who operated
on me, that I would rather die than lose my left breast. With two
breasts it's hard enough finding a boyfriend, let alone with one! He had
to laugh about that. And he reassured me. He said that these days they
rarely had to remove the breast in these kind of cases. 'We remove the
lump and we fill the freed space up and in such a way that it will look
completely natural,' according to Gerry. But if there had been no other
way, I would have opted for the amputation."

Laughing and Joking

When Wendy came to from the anesthetics that night, her two best friends
were sitting at the side of her bed. "I knew that the cancer was out. I
had the feeling that I could conquer the whole world and we were
laughing and joking. My friends have helped me through that horrible
time. It started the night before the operation. Till three in the
morning, I've been chatting and laughing with a friend, while we watched Blackadder video tapes. As soon as I have my energy back, I'll invite
them all for a wonderful dinner party. I know the cancer is gone. It's
somewhere in a bowl in a laboratory and there's nothing wrong with me.
The only thing is, that I'm still a bit tired.

"The nurses were amazed I wanted to go back to work again. But
thankfully the doctors agreed." The actress stresses that women should
check their breasts regularly. "I would like to ask every WEEKEND-reader
to do so every day. Believe me, before I had this lump, I couldn't
believe it would ever happen to me either. But when I heard the
diagnosis, I have cried and screamed at home so loudly, that my little
dog Shirley began to squeak of fear."

For Wendy breast cancer is the umpteenth bit of bad luck in her life.
Her father committed suicide when she was 11 years old, and 13 years
later her mother died. Two years ago, her third marriage ended. The
Irish carpetfitter Paul Glorney asked for a divorce, because [he
alleged] she took Pauline Fowler's problems home with her and he
couldn't handle it anymore. Before that the actress had been married to
Leonard Black for six months. After that she was married to Will Thorpe,
who physically abused her all the time. That marriage was disbanded
after one and a half years. Wendy became addicted to alcohol and was a
wreck. She stopped drinking alcohol when she met Paul Glorney. But after
four years, their marriage ended as well.